# Redis vs Valkey in 2026: what's different and which to pick

> For most apps it doesn't matter: Redis 8 and Valkey 9 speak the same protocol, and mainstream Redis clients connect to both. Pick Redis if you need TimeSeries or the newest Redis Query Engine features; pick Valkey if you want a BSD license and a Linux Foundation project. On KVNest you choose per instance, at the same price.

Updated 2026-11-05; every fact last verified 2026-11-04. By KVNest.

## The short version

| | Redis Open Source 8 | Valkey 9 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **License** | AGPLv3, RSALv2 or SSPLv1, your choice | BSD-3-Clause |
| **Maintained by** | Redis Inc. | A Linux Foundation project |
| **Latest release** | 8.10 (July 2026) | 9.1 (May 2026) |
| **Protocol** | RESP2 and RESP3 | RESP2 and RESP3 |
| **Built-in extras** | JSON, Bloom and other probabilistic types, TimeSeries, Query Engine, vector sets | Separate modules: JSON, Bloom, Search, LDAP |
| **Time series** | Yes | No official module |
| **Clients** | Any Redis client | Any Redis client, plus Valkey's own |

## How we got two of them

- **March 2024:** Redis Inc. moved Redis to RSALv2 and SSPLv1, starting with 7.4. Neither is an OSI-approved license. Eight days later, the Linux Foundation launched Valkey, continuing from Redis 7.2.4 under BSD-3-Clause.
- **September 2024:** Valkey 8.0.
- **May 2025:** Redis 8 added AGPLv3 as a third option and folded the Redis Stack features, including JSON, TimeSeries and the Query Engine, into Redis Open Source.
- **October 2025:** Valkey 9.0 added hash field expiration, atomic slot migration and numbered databases in cluster mode.
- **May 2026:** Valkey 9.1 added per-database ACLs, Lua as a module that operators can turn off, and JSON logging.
- **July 2026:** Redis 8.10 added compact hashes, a `BACKUP` command and new TimeSeries and Search commands.

## What's the same

**Most of what an app touches.** Both speak RESP2 and RESP3, share the core data types (strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets, streams) and nearly all of the commands that existed in Redis 7.2. Both take a `rediss://` URL for TLS. The same client library, code and connection string work with either.

## What's different

### License

**Valkey is BSD-3-Clause,** a permissive license with no conditions on running it as a service. **Redis 8 lets you choose AGPLv3, RSALv2 or SSPLv1.** AGPLv3's extra condition is in section 13: if you modify the server and let people use it over a network, you must offer them your modified source.

If you only connect to a hosted server, you aren't modifying or distributing it, so the license asks little of you. It matters more if you ship or host a modified Redis yourself. This isn't legal advice.

### Modules

**Redis 8 has the extras built in:** JSON, Bloom and other probabilistic types, TimeSeries, the Query Engine and vector sets. **Valkey keeps them as separate BSD-licensed modules,** shipped together in the `valkey-bundle` image: valkey-json, valkey-bloom, valkey-search and valkey-ldap. There's no official Valkey time-series module.

### Search

**Both use `FT.*` command names, with different feature sets.** valkey-search supports vector search (HNSW and exact KNN) with numeric, tag and full-text filters, over hashes or JSON, through `FT.CREATE`, `FT.SEARCH`, `FT.AGGREGATE` and a few more. The Redis Query Engine has commands valkey-search doesn't list, such as `FT.HYBRID` and `FT.ALIASLIST`. If you depend on search, test your own queries on both.

### Performance

**Each project publishes its own numbers; these are vendor claims.** Redis says Redis 8 brought over 30 performance improvements, with up to 87% faster commands (May 2025). The Linux Foundation says Valkey 9.0 delivers up to 40% more throughput than 8.1 (October 2025). Valkey reports 2.1 million requests per second on one server with 9.1 (May 2026). We haven't benchmarked them against each other yet.

## Who hosts which

| Provider | Owner country | Free tier | Smallest paid | €/GiB (persistent) | Hosted MCP | Engine |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [KVNest](https://kvnest.com) | Netherlands (EU-owned) | Starter: free, 256 MiB | Casual (coming soon): €9/month, 1 GiB | €9 | Hosted | Redis 8.10, Valkey 9.1 |
| [Aiven for Valkey](https://aiven.io/valkey) | Finland (EU-owned) | Free: free, 1 GB | Hobbyist: €16.86/month, 1 GB | €18.10 | Hosted | Valkey 9.1 (8.1 also offered) |
| [OVHcloud Public Cloud Databases for Valkey](https://www.ovhcloud.com/en-ie/public-cloud/valkey/) | France (EU-owned) | None | Discovery B3-4: €46.93/month, 4 GB | €12.60 | Hosted | Valkey 9.1 (8.1 also offered) |
| [UpCloud Managed Valkey](https://upcloud.com/valkey) | Finland (EU-owned) | None | 1 node, 1 GB: €8/month, 1 GB | €8.59 | Community only | Valkey not published (migration tool targets up to 9.1) |
| [Stackhero (Redis and Valkey)](https://www.stackhero.io/en/services/Valkey/pricing) | France (EU-owned) | None | Hobby 1 GB: €16.86/month, 1 GB | €18.10 | None | Redis not stated, Valkey not stated |
| [Clever Cloud (Redis and Materia KV)](https://www.clever.cloud/product/redis/) | France (EU-owned) | Materia KV (beta): free, 128 MB | Redis S: €5/month, 128 MB | €41.94 | Run it yourself | Redis 8.10.2, Materia KV (beta, Redis-protocol compatible) |
| [Scaleway Managed Database for Redis](https://www.scaleway.com/en/managed-database-for-redistm/) | France (EU-owned) | None | RED1-MICRO (standalone): €35.04/month, 2 GB | €18.81 | Community only | Redis 7.2 (7.2.11 per Scaleway docs, Oct 2025) |
| [Exoscale Managed Valkey](https://www.exoscale.com/dbaas/valkey/) | Switzerland | None | Hobbyist-2: €43.03/month, 1 GB | €46.21 | Community only | Valkey 7.2.4 (per Exoscale community docs; may be out of date) |
| [Redis Cloud](https://redis.io/pricing/) | United States | Free (Essentials 30 MB): free, 30 MB | Essentials 250 MB: €4.44/month, 250 MB | €19.06 | Run it yourself | Redis 8.6 |
| [Render Key Value](https://render.com/docs/key-value) | United States | Free: free, 25 MB | 256mb (legacy name: Starter): €8.88/month, 256 MB | €37.22 | Hosted | Valkey 8 |
| [Upstash Redis](https://upstash.com/pricing/redis) | United States | Free: free, 250 MB | Fixed 250MB: €8.88/month, 250 MB | €38.12 | Hosted | Upstash's own Redis-compatible engine (Redis protocol up to 8.4) |

**The Engine column is the one to read.** Aiven, OVHcloud, UpCloud, Exoscale and Render run Valkey; Redis Cloud, Scaleway and Clever Cloud run Redis; Stackhero and KVNest offer both. Upstash runs its own Redis-compatible engine.

## Which to pick

**You need time series:** Redis. It's built in, and Valkey has no official module.

**The license matters to you:** Valkey, if you want BSD-3-Clause and foundation governance. Redis under AGPLv3 is also open source; read its terms if you plan to modify or host the server.

**Your host picked for you:** both are fine. Moving between them is a key copy, not a rewrite.

**AI and vector search:** test both. The Redis Query Engine has more commands; valkey-search covers vector search with filters. Run your own queries before you commit.

## Try both on KVNest

**Create one of each and run the same program.** KVNest runs Redis Open Source 8.10 (AGPLv3) and Valkey 9.1 (BSD-3-Clause), upstream builds with admin commands disabled, at the same price. The Starter plan is free during the public preview. Modules are off by default; turning them on restarts the instance. To learn the commands, try the [tutorials](https://kvnest.com/tutorials) in your browser.

- **No conversion.** The engine is fixed when you create an instance.
- **No import yet.** Switching means copying the keys yourself.
- **Starter is a cache.** Nothing goes to disk, so copy what you need before you delete an instance.

**Both engines are on every plan,** so a second instance to copy into costs nothing extra on Starter.

## How we checked

**From redis.io, valkey.io, the Linux Foundation and each project's repository,** read on 5 November 2026; host facts from our [EU provider comparison](https://kvnest.com/compare/eu-managed-redis), checked on 4 November 2026. Found an error? Email legal@kvnest.com.

## Questions

### Is Valkey a drop-in replacement for Redis?

For apps that use the core data types and commands, usually yes: Valkey continued from Redis 7.2.4 and speaks the same protocol. Check the modules and newer commands you rely on, since the two projects have added different features since 2024.

### Is Redis open source again?

Since Redis 8, released in May 2025, you can use Redis Open Source under AGPLv3, an OSI-approved open source license, or under RSALv2 or SSPLv1. Redis 7.4 is RSALv2 or SSPLv1 only; Redis 7.2 and earlier are BSD-licensed.

### Does Valkey have TimeSeries?

Not among its official modules. The valkey-bundle image ships JSON, Bloom, Search and LDAP modules, but no time-series type. Redis 8 includes TimeSeries.

### Do I need a different client for Valkey?

No. Valkey speaks the Redis protocol, so mainstream Redis clients connect to it. Valkey also publishes its own client, Valkey GLIDE, which is optional.

### Can I switch a KVNest instance from Redis to Valkey?

Not in place. The engine is fixed when you create the instance, so create a new one and copy your keys across.

## Sources

- [Redis adopts dual source-available licensing (20 Mar 2024)](https://redis.io/blog/redis-adopts-dual-source-available-licensing/), checked 2026-11-05
- [Redis is now available under the AGPLv3 license (1 May 2025)](https://redis.io/blog/agplv3/), checked 2026-11-05
- [Redis LICENSE.txt (tri-license from Redis 8)](https://github.com/redis/redis/blob/unstable/LICENSE.txt), checked 2026-11-05
- [What's new in Redis 8.10](https://redis.io/docs/latest/develop/whats-new/8-10/), checked 2026-11-05
- [Linux Foundation launches Valkey (28 Mar 2024)](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-launches-open-source-valkey-community), checked 2026-11-05
- [Valkey history](https://valkey.io/topics/history/), checked 2026-11-05
- [Valkey COPYING (BSD-3-Clause)](https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/blob/unstable/COPYING), checked 2026-11-05
- [Valkey 9.0 release (Linux Foundation, 21 Oct 2025)](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/valkey-9.0-delivers-performance-and-resiliency-for-real-time-workloads), checked 2026-11-05
- [Valkey 9.1 release post (19 May 2026)](https://valkey.io/blog/valkey-9-1-delivers-improvements-in-security-performance-and-more/), checked 2026-11-05
- [valkey-bundle image (modules)](https://hub.docker.com/r/valkey/valkey-bundle), checked 2026-11-05
- [valkey-search README](https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey-search), checked 2026-11-05
- [Valkey GLIDE client](https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey-glide), checked 2026-11-05
- [GNU AGPLv3, section 13](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html), checked 2026-11-05
- [KVNest pricing](https://kvnest.com/pricing), checked 2026-11-04
- [KVNest MCP docs](https://kvnest.com/docs/mcp), checked 2026-11-04
- [KVNest docs](https://kvnest.com/docs), checked 2026-11-04
- [Aiven for Valkey pricing](https://aiven.io/pricing/valkey), checked 2026-11-04
- [Valkey free tier (docs)](https://aiven.io/docs/products/valkey/concepts/valkey-free-tier), checked 2026-11-04
- [Free Valkey database](https://aiven.io/free-valkey-database), checked 2026-11-04
- [Caching how-to (free tier placement)](https://aiven.io/docs/products/caching/howto), checked 2026-11-04
- [Valkey high availability by plan](https://aiven.io/docs/products/valkey/concepts/high-availability), checked 2026-11-04
- [Valkey advanced parameters (valkey_persistence)](https://aiven.io/docs/products/valkey/reference/advanced-params), checked 2026-11-04
- [Major version EOL table](https://aiven.io/docs/platform/reference/eol-for-major-versions), checked 2026-11-04
- [Aiven MCP server README](https://github.com/Aiven-Open/mcp-aiven), checked 2026-11-04
- [Aiven terms (Finnish law)](https://aiven.io/terms), checked 2026-11-04
- [Public Cloud price list (Valkey tables)](https://www.ovhcloud.com/en-ie/public-cloud/prices/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Databases for Valkey product page](https://www.ovhcloud.com/en/public-cloud/valkey/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Valkey capabilities and limitations](https://docs.ovhcloud.com/en/guides/public-cloud/databases/valkey-capabilities.md), checked 2026-11-04
- [OVHcloud MCP Server](https://www.ovhcloud.com/en/public-cloud/mcp-server/), checked 2026-11-04
- [UpCloud pricing (Managed Valkey tables)](https://upcloud.com/pricing/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Managed Valkey configurations](https://upcloud.com/docs/products/managed-valkey/configurations/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Managed Valkey backups](https://upcloud.com/docs/products/managed-valkey/backups/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Managed Valkey availability](https://upcloud.com/docs/products/managed-valkey/availability/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Managed Valkey FAQ](https://upcloud.com/docs/products/managed-valkey/faq/), checked 2026-11-04
- [About UpCloud](https://upcloud.com/about/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Stackhero for Valkey pricing](https://www.stackhero.io/en/services/Valkey/pricing), checked 2026-11-04
- [Stackhero for Redis pricing](https://www.stackhero.io/en/services/Redis/pricing), checked 2026-11-04
- [Stackhero for Valkey FAQ](https://stackhero.io/en-GB/services/Valkey/faq), checked 2026-11-04
- [Terms of service](https://www.stackhero.io/stackhero/terms), checked 2026-11-04
- [Clever Cloud public add-on provider API (Redis and Materia KV plans)](https://api.clever-cloud.com/v2/products/addonproviders), checked 2026-11-04
- [Clever Cloud zones API](https://api.clever-cloud.com/v4/products/zones), checked 2026-11-04
- [Redis add-on docs](https://www.clever.cloud/developers/doc/deploy/databases/redis/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Materia KV docs](https://www.clever.cloud/developers/doc/deploy/databases/materia-kv/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Legal notice](https://www.clever.cloud/legal-notice/), checked 2026-11-04
- [mcp-simple-server README](https://github.com/CleverCloud/mcp-simple-server), checked 2026-11-04
- [Managed Databases pricing (Redis table)](https://www.scaleway.com/en/pricing/managed-databases/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Scaleway public product catalog API](https://api.scaleway.com/product-catalog/v2alpha1/public-catalog/products), checked 2026-11-04
- [Redis FAQ (HA, cluster, node classes)](https://github.com/scaleway/docs-content/blob/main/pages/managed-databases-for-redis/faq.mdx), checked 2026-11-04
- [Ensuring data persistence](https://github.com/scaleway/docs-content/blob/main/pages/managed-databases-for-redis/reference-content/ensuring-data-persistence.mdx), checked 2026-11-04
- [América Móvil raises its A1 Telekom Austria stake to 58% (TelecomTalk)](https://telecomtalk.info/america-movil-boosts-stake-telekom-austria-58percent/902156/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Exoscale pricing (Managed Valkey)](https://www.exoscale.com/pricing/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Exoscale zones](https://www.exoscale.com/datacenters/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Valkey overview (community docs)](https://community.exoscale.com/product/dbaas/service-specific/valkey/overview), checked 2026-11-04
- [A1 group structure (Akenes S.A.)](https://a1.group/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/12/Group_Structure_112023_without_CC.pdf), checked 2026-11-04
- [Redis pricing](https://redis.io/pricing/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Essentials plan details](https://redis.io/docs/latest/operate/rc/subscriptions/view-essentials-subscription/essentials-plan-details/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Data persistence](https://redis.io/docs/latest/operate/rc/databases/configuration/data-persistence/), checked 2026-11-04
- [High availability and replication](https://redis.io/docs/latest/operate/rc/databases/configuration/high-availability/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Supported regions](https://redis.io/docs/latest/operate/rc/supported-regions/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Quick start (free database region choice)](https://redis.io/docs/latest/operate/rc/rc-quickstart/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Changelog (Redis 8.6 on Essentials, May 2026)](https://redis.io/docs/latest/operate/rc/changelog/), checked 2026-11-04
- [Cloud terms of service (Redis entities)](https://redis.io/legal/cloud-tos/), checked 2026-11-04
- [mcp-redis-cloud README](https://github.com/redis/mcp-redis-cloud), checked 2026-11-04
- [Render pricing (Key Value)](https://render.com/pricing), checked 2026-11-04
- [Key Value docs](https://render.com/docs/key-value), checked 2026-11-04
- [Compute plans (Key Value plan IDs and connections)](https://render.com/docs/compute-plans), checked 2026-11-04
- [Free instances](https://render.com/docs/free), checked 2026-11-04
- [Regions](https://render.com/docs/regions), checked 2026-11-04
- [MCP server](https://render.com/docs/mcp-server), checked 2026-11-04
- [Privacy policy (Render Services, Inc.)](https://render.com/privacy), checked 2026-11-04
- [Upstash Redis pricing](https://upstash.com/pricing/redis), checked 2026-11-04
- [Durable storage](https://upstash.com/docs/redis/features/durability.md), checked 2026-11-04
- [Global database (region list)](https://upstash.com/docs/redis/features/globaldatabase.md), checked 2026-11-04
- [Redis API compatibility](https://upstash.com/docs/redis/overall/compatibility.md), checked 2026-11-04
- [MCP server docs](https://upstash.com/docs/agent-resources/mcp.md), checked 2026-11-04
- [Prod Pack and Enterprise](https://upstash.com/docs/redis/overall/enterprise), checked 2026-11-04
- [Terms of service (Upstash, Inc., Delaware)](https://upstash.com/trust/terms.pdf), checked 2026-11-04